Automated teller machines (ATMs) and quick cash or money machine kiosks have become ubiquitous. ATMs are often owned by banks (proprietor banks) and provide a variety of banking services twenty-four hours a day without need for interaction with a customer service representative from the proprietor bank. The services available at an ATM are available not only to a proprietor bank's own customers, but to anyone who has an account at a bank that participates in a common network with other proprietor banks. Today, the networks are so broad-reaching that almost anyone with a bank account can conduct banking transactions at most ATMs in the world. ATM services include the provision of account balance information, balance transfers between bank accounts, cash withdrawals from bank accounts (often for a transaction fee), and cash or check deposits to bank accounts. Some ATMs also allow the initiation of money transfers from the account of a bank customer in settlement of the account of a creditor. Deposits are generally collected by instructing the customer to place any cash and/or checks into an envelope and to insert the sealed envelope into a receptacle. The customer indicates the amount of the deposit by data input on a keypad on the ATM. The deposit information entered by the customer is later reconciled with the cash and/or checks in the deposit envelope at the proprietor bank.
ATMs are generally serviced by armored transport services in the employ of the bank that is the proprietor of the particular ATM. The armored transport service collects the deposit envelopes and replenishes the cash dispensing mechanism in the ATM with currency from the proprietor bank or a correspondent bank. The deposit armored transport service returns the deposit envelopes to the proprietor bank or a correspondent bank. Once counted, cash in the deposit envelopes is considered cash available to the proprietor bank, even if still physically held by a correspondent bank, as part of its cash reserves available to satisfy its customers' claims. The bank's cash reserve is often termed “vault cash.” Any checks from the deposit envelopes are presented by the proprietor bank to the banks of the drafters for payment. The proprietor bank then participates in an electronic settlement with the banks of the ATM users.
Cash or money access machines are found in many commercial establishments such as bars and convenience stores that either conduct a significant volume of cash transactions or desire to offer access to cash for the convenience of their customers. Such money access machines are generally owned by either the proprietors of the establishment where the machines are located or a third party owner of the money access machines leases space in the establishment. The owner of a money access machine may generate revenue by charging a transaction fee to the user for the convenience of access to cash. The user's bank account is thus debited not only the cash withdrawal amount, but a transaction fee as well, and the sum of those amounts is credited to the bank account of the money machine owner. The money access machines generally do not provide the extensive banking services that ATMs offer and instead usually only provide a user access to cash with corresponding account balance information. The money access machines are similarly generally serviced by an armored transport service that brings money from the owner's bank account to stock the machine.
In order to operate, both the ATMs and cash access machines (which for the sake of convenience are hereinafter referred to collectively as “banking machines” unless one or the other is particularly indicated) must be connected to an information network for the reciprocal transfer of information from the banking machine to the bank of the user. In order for a user to make a cash withdrawal, the banking machine must first contact the user's bank to determine whether the user has enough funds in an account to secure the cash withdrawal. Funds will ultimately be debited from the user's account and credited by the user's bank to the bank of the banking machine owner (which may be a proprietor bank) by network transfer or otherwise reconciled. When a user makes a deposit at an ATM owned by the user's bank, the user's account is credited with the deposit amount to ultimately be confirmed after reconciliation when the deposit envelope is opened. Alternately, when a user of an ATM makes a deposit in a proprietor bank's ATM that does not hold the user's account, but has an affiliation with the user's bank, the ATM may contact the user's bank to notify the user's bank that the user's account should be credited with the deposit amount to ultimately be confirmed after reconciliation when the deposit envelope is opened after transfer to the user's bank.
The information networks linking banking machines and banks are generally provided or facilitated by a third party transaction processor. The transaction processor may operate the physical information network used by the banking machines and may further provide the necessary hardware and software used by the banking machines and banks to communicate with each other over the network. Transaction processors also provide other communication services, for example, transaction services between banks and creditors of account holders for automatic payment of bills, and transaction services between credit card issuers, merchants, and the merchant's banks.
Perhaps incredibly, even now in the twenty-first century approximately thirty percent of the population of the United States does not own a bank account and operates financially on a cash only basis. Many of these people are in lower income brackets and often are recent immigrants. For these classes of society, conducting business with traditional financial institutions, e.g., banks, is often difficult and is sometimes unavailable as an option for managing personal finances. Difficulties may arise from, for example, a lack of transportation to reach the financial institution to conduct business, a language barrier, a fear of identification arising out of immigration issues, or different cultural norms. For many, traditional banking options are unavailable due to poor credit histories or a lack of credit history at all. Electronic banking and other electronic financial services, for example, internet banking and automatic bill payment, are often unavailable to this population merely from the fact that they do not have access to computers or Internet connections. Further, since they do not have bank accounts, they are unable to write a check to be drawn on an account and send it to a creditor in settlement of the debt.
At present there is no opportunity for a person without a bank account to take advantage of the ease and convenience of a banking machine to perform financial transactions. The primary problem is the inherent credit risk that no party involved in such a transaction is willing to undertake. A bank is generally unwilling to guarantee payment to a creditor of a customer unless that customer has sufficient funds deposited within his bank account. A bank is definitely unwilling to extend credit to or guarantee payment to a third party creditor of a person without an account because there is no security for transaction. While a transaction processor has relationships with both banks and creditors, the transaction processor is not in the business of extending credit itself or receiving security for a transaction. The transaction processor merely provides a service as an information broker or facilitator for the banks and creditors.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention is to be bound.